Sports ramblings…with a Yankees bias!

October 2013

This is odd. The AL and NL Division Series are underway and no Yankees. Yes, we’ve been spoiled but I still do remember those horrific 1980’s. This year kind of had that ‘Steve Kemp’ feeling to it, except that manager Joe Girardi managed his butt off to ensure the team didn’t finish in the cellar.

A week or so in, and it’s already been an odd off-season with Alex Rodriguez and his battle against MLB. Personally, I hope MLB throws the book at A-Rod and that his sentence turns out to be more than 211 games. I was surprised he decided to sue MLB and the Yankees doctor who treated him, and that he feels MLBPA representation is not in his best interests. In other words, it’s A-Rod’s world and we live in it. The moon, the sun and the stars revolve around him. He is simply the most egotistical player that I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t alive when Ty Cobb played so I cannot compare the two.

It’s disappointing that A-Rod’s fate will be drawn out through December or later. I hope that it does not impede the Yankees’ off-season. They should proceed as if they will not have A-Rod and I am sure that would be their wish as much as it is mine. If the team (i.e., Hal Steinbrenner) wants to come in under $189 million for the 2014, the key will be an A-Rod free season so that the Yankees can have some salary relief. But if they wait to see how the A-Rod situation plays out before addressing third base, we’ll be looking at a season with a Lyle Overbay-type player at third. I would like to see the return of Kevin Youkoulis, but Youk has proven you need a strong Plan B when you put him on the field.

Age is just a number…

I really do not know what we’ll get from Derek Jeter next year. I don’t believe that he’ll have the stellar farewell tour that Mariano Rivera had. Not that next year is DJ’s last year, but it will be the descent to the end. He could be the starter at short, and he could be a regular fixture at DH. He might be a continued regular on the DL. It’s anybody’s guess what we’ll get next year. But the known fact is that we’ll not get the All-Star of past years. At 40 years of age, his better days are clearly in the rearview mirror.

Classifieds…

Wanted: Catcher.

Windy City Joe…

As hard of the Chicago Cubs have made it known they want Joe Girardi, I would be surprised to see his return to the Bronx. I know that he’s talked about the Yankees being his dream job and he enjoys a good relationship with Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman, but at the end of the day, Girardi is still a Chicago guy. The guy who wins a World Series for the Cubs will be a legend. The next guy to win a World Series for the Yankees will be #28. From a sheer challenge standpoint, history and tradition aside, I’d have to go with the job that presents the greatest challenge. For this reason, I am fully expecting Girardi to bolt for Chi-town. As a huge Donnie Baseball fan, I’d like nothing more than to see #23 return to the Bronx. If the Los Angeles Dodgers underachieve in the play-offs, there’s a good chance that he can be had. So, if there’s a possibility of Mattingly coming back to New York, I have very mixed feelings about the Girardi situation. I like Girardi as a manager and he did a great job this year. But I will always be a Don Mattingly fan above any others.

My only hope is that I don’t lose out on both…

No, the Grandy Man can’t…

Now that the Chicago White Sox have apparently expressed interest in Curtis Granderson, I don’t really see a scenario that Grandy stays in New York. He is a Chicago guy and at 33, it does not make sense for a team that needs to get younger, to give a long-term deal to an older player. So, I think we’ve seen the last of the Grandy Man in pinstripes.

Years with lots of $$$$$$$…thanks, but no thanks…

So, that leave us with Robinson Cano. I have truly enjoyed this guy as a Yankee and he has been a great second baseman. But the A-Rod situation has proven to me that very long-term deals never pan out and eventually become an albatross. So, as much as I like Cano, if another team throws a 10-year deal out there, it’s time to cut bait. I’d rather go with a younger team that has the potential of challenging for a World Series in a few years than try to hang on with older, long-in-the-tooth players and hope for lightning in a bottle.

Looking to the future…

I am not sure what this off-season will bring. I am not sold on Hal Steinbrenner as a Yankees owner. So far, he has struck me more as a bean counter than a passionate owner who wants to win. I admit that I could be so wrong about this perception and I truly hope that Hal does prove me wrong. We do not need wreckless, stupid decisions that hurt baseball, but Hal can make the decisions to field the best possible team in 2014. I do not feel that we did that in 2013. We went with the ‘bargain basement’ specials to field the team and there’s no way the team would have succeeded had they made the playoffs.

The Yankees were really hurt that no prospects took it to the next level to the main show this year. There are no Derek Jeters or Andy Pettittes or Jorge Posadas or Mariano Riveras waiting in the wings. I am really not sure where the next core is going to come from. At the moment, the New York Mets have the more promising future rotation. As we know, pitching wins championships.

Last year, the Boston Red Sox looked like a bloated, past their prime team. But with that spectacular deal to unload salaries with the Los Angeles Dodgers, they made the right moves to win the AL East this year and should most likely advance to the ALCS or World Series. Can the Yankees do this? It’s really up to Brian Cashman to produce. There was no optimism last off-season as a Yankees fan. I really hope that changes this year, but the realist in me expects it to be more of the same…

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